Marina Place Gets Crucial Approval, Lots of Complaints

Marina Place, the proposed regional mall at the western tip of Culver City, moved closer to construction last week when the city’s Planning Commission approved the developer’s plans and liquor permits, and recommended approval of its environmental impact report.

Wednesday’s four-hour public hearing, in which a model of the Mediterranean-style mall was presented, provided a forum for opponents to vent their anger about the project and the traffic, noise and pollution that they fear will result.

The proposed Westside Pavilion-sized mall is a joint venture of Prudential Insurance Co. and Marina Simon Associated Partnership Limited.

Even with proposed street improvements, during weekday peak traffic, 22 of 30 intersections surrounding the mall’s site near the corner of Washington and Lincoln boulevards will operate above capacity, according to the draft supplemental environmental impact report.

“We call it grid-rock,” said attorney Debra Bowen, who is representing the Venice Town Council, a community group, in a pending lawsuit against Culver City to force major changes in the project. “You might as well put the rock of Prudential right in the middle of the street, because it’s going to be a mess,” she said.

Opponents of the 1-million-square-foot project also pointed to findings in the environmental report that traffic from the mall would hamper access to the beach and contribute to unhealthful levels of air pollution.

Jim Bickhart, legislative deputy to Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, noted that the report found that carbon monoxide emissions from the traffic would be 3,224 pounds per day, nearly six times the amount considered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to create a significant adverse impact.

The Planning Commission’s approval of the environmental report angered former Venice Town Council President Dell Chumley.

“It’s a real serious breach of the public trust when people say, ‘Yes, (this project is) going to do all these dastardly things, but we’re going to go ahead and approve it anyway.’ ”

About 20 people spoke out against the mall, but they were matched in roughly equal numbers by Culver City residents who said the mall would bring the city prestige and much-needed tax revenues and who had little sympathy about the traffic it would cause their Los Angeles neighbors.

Los Angeles’ proposed “Playa Vista project . . . now has 5 million square feet of office space and 720,000 square feet of retail space, and L.A. complains to us about traffic? That’s absurd,” said Jackie McCain, president of the Culver City Homeowners Assn.

Culver City resident Ed Little agreed. “It’s not the responsibility of . . . the Marina Place people to mitigate the traffic problems caused as a result of L.A.’s inaction,” he said. “Let’s put the blame where it belongs; the traffic is there because Los Angeles has had unbridled development.”

Marina Place, which would include Nordstrom and Bullock’s department stores and a six-screen movie theater complex, is Prudential’s fifth proposal for the site since it bought the 18-acre property in 1980. Culver City is expected to net $2.5 million a year in business license fees and in sales and property taxes should the project be built.

Despite the criticism about traffic and pollution, Prudential has refused to budge on the size of its current proposal.

The City Council election in April could jeopardize the project if another slow-growth council member is elected and joins forces with Councilmen Steven Gourley and Jim Boulgarides, who object to the project’s size.

Also on the ballot is a citizens initiative that would limit certain new commercial construction to 56 feet in height. Present plans for Marina Place include a 74-foot-high theater complex and two 84-foot-high towers.

The City Council is expected to consider the mall’s plans and environmental report in late February or early March, according to Deputy City Planner Carol DeLay.